Asim Devasharma, a migrant labourer who lives in Mustafanagar Grampanchayat’s Dangipara village in Bengal, was forced to transfer his 5-month-old baby’s dead body alone because he was unable to pay the ambulance drivers’ required charge.
In-depth details on Bengali guy walks 200 kilometres with his son’s body in a bag because he cannot afford the ambulance price
The incident happened on Saturday when Asim Devasharma’s twins became critically unwell. They were initially admitted to Kaliaganj State General Hospital, but as their condition worsened, they were transferred to Raiganj Medical College Hospital.
Sources claim that both of his kids were brought to the North Bengal Medical College Hospital for additional care.
Asim Devasharma’s wife brought one of the infants home on Thursday as the kids’ condition kept becoming worse. Tragically, Saturday night while receiving treatment in the hospital, the second youngster passed away.
The distraught father requested an ambulance from the North Bengal Medical College Hospital to transport his dead son to his house. He was astonished, though, to learn that the ambulance drivers wanted Rs 8,000 to complete the task.
Without any other choices, Asim Devasharma took a private bus from Siliguri, Bengal, to Raiganj, and then another bus to Kaliaganj, his hometown. Asim Devasharma sought assistance and called for an ambulance when he arrived at the Vivekananda crossroads in Kaliaganj.
After receiving six days of treatment at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital in Siliguri, during which I paid Rs 16,000, my five-month-old kid passed away yesterday night, the bereaved father stated.
“I went there to rent a single ambulance. I was then told that I was not permitted to take the deceased body home. Asim Devasharma continued, “An ambulance driver informed me that while the facility was free for patients, it was not for the transportation of dead.
Asim informed the media that the driver told him it would cost Rs 8000 to transport the body of his dead child.
“I boarded a bus from Siliguri since I lacked the Rs 8,000 the ambulance driver demanded. I changed buses at Raiganj, he continued.
He stated that he took a bus to Kaliaganj in the Uttar Dinajpur district, about 200 kilometres from Siliguri in the Darjeeling district, without telling anybody because he was afraid he would be kicked off the bus if his fellow passengers or the crew found out.
“I made contact with one person after leaving the Vivekananda crossroads in Kaliaganj. The father said that he made arrangements for an ambulance.
The incident has caused controversy and brought attention to West Bengal’s appalling state of healthcare services.
Sukanta Majumder, the leader of the West Bengal BJP, posted on social media his condolences for the incident and blamed the state government for the deplorable status of the medical facilities.
He tweeted, “This poor person has to carry the dead body of his child in a bag,” in reference to the situation. He failed to locate an ambulance. The hospital in West Bengal is in this state. District of Uttar Dinajpur is home to this case. Unfortunately, this is the situation in every district in West Bengal.
Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP, the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal assembly, questioned the viability of the ‘Swasthya Sathi’ health insurance programme run by the Trinamool Congress.
Let’s not get into semantics, but is this what Swasthya Sathi has accomplished? Adhikari tweeted about the situation along with videos of the man speaking to the media. Sadly, this accurately captures the ‘Egiye Bangla’ (advanced Bengal) concept.
TMC leaders responded by accusing the saffron party of playing politics over the tragic death of a youngster. Santanu Sen, a Rajya Sabha member for the TMC, charged that the BJP was attempting to “play dirty politics” by using the tragic loss of a kid.
